Anglo Irish set to name head of UK arm as chief executive

ANGLO IRISH Bank is expected to name the head of the bank’s UK operations, Declan Quilligan, as its new chief executive.

The bank has said it intends to announce a new chief executive before the extraordinary general meeting (egm) in Dublin tomorrow where shareholders will vote on the Government’s plan to invest €1.5 billion in the bank.

A spokesman for Anglo declined to comment.

Two internal candidates, Mr Quilligan and head of the bank’s US division Tony Campbell were shortlisted for the job.

Two external candidates also made the shortlist to replace David Drumm who resigned as chief executive last month after it emerged that the bank had concealed multimillion euro loans to the bank’s former chairman, Seán FitzPatrick, over eight years.

The external candidates later withdrew their names because, according to sources close to the process, they did not receive sufficient details on aspects of the role, including whether the bank would continue as a going concern or be run down over several years.

It had been signalled early in the recruitment process that Mr Drumm’s replacement would be picked from within Anglo’s existing senior management team.

The decision to appoint an internal candidate follows the bank’s announcement last week that it would seek a new chief risk officer from outside the bank, and that this role would be a board position and separate from the post of finance director.

Mr Quilligan (45) was appointed chief executive of Anglo’s UK operations in 2005. He managed Anglo’s UK loan book, which amounted to €21 billion at the end of September 2008, or 28 per cent of the bank’s overall loan book of €73 billion.

The bank’s new chairman, Donal O’Connor, led the recruitment process to find a new chief executive. One of the Government’s two appointees on the board, former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes, was also involved.

The European Commission yesterday approved the €1.5 billion bailout of Anglo, saying it complied with EU rules on state aid. “The measure constitutes an adequate means to remedy a serious disturbance in the Irish economy while avoiding undue distortions of competition,” the commission noted in a statement.

The commission said the move was “limited in scope, requires an adequate remuneration and provides safeguards to minimise distortions of competition”.

Fine Gael has said it will fight the bailout of Anglo. The party has called for new management to be appointed to the bank and that Anglo should be wound down over the next five to seven years.

A spokesman for the Financial Regulator said it was consulting with its legal advisers on whether it could release more information from the internal report into its handling of the Anglo loans controversy. This follows criticism of the regulator at an Oireachtas committee hearing on Tuesday that it could not disclose more detail on its inquiry and the loans, particularly on the size of Mr FitzPatrick’s borrowings over the eight years.

The regulator has said it was advised that it could not publish its report. One of Anglo’s largest shareholders, asset manager Invesco, sold a further 4.6 million shares in the bank on Monday, reducing its stake to 4.7 per cent from 5.3 per cent. It sold 11.5 million shares in the bank last Friday, cutting its stake from 6.9 per cent.